Inside The Huskies

Neuheisel Will Try His Hand at Coaching Again

The former Husky football leader has agreed to head up a pro franchise.
Dan Raley|
Former UW coach Rick Neuheisel, left, is shown after meeting with then Husky coach Tyrone Willingham in 2008.
Former UW coach Rick Neuheisel, left, is shown after meeting with then Husky coach Tyrone Willingham in 2008. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Five months ago, Rick Neuheisel attended a University of Washington football practice, something he presumably hadn't done for more than two decades since getting fired as the Husky coach.

It proved to be an upbeat moment for everyone on the East practice field.

People who used to work with Neuheisel warmly greeted him. He spoke with current Husky coach Jedd Fisch, the seventh man to hold the job since he left it involuntarily. He was more than welcome after previously being shoved out the door.

This exchange must have rekindled some old coaching juices in Neuheisel because on Tuesday he was announced as the new leader of the UFL's Dallas Renegades, marking his return to the sidelines for the first time in seven seasons.

"THERE'S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN," the franchise posted on social media.

Neuheisel, 64, apparently will double up and keep his job as CBS college football analyst, because talking is one of the things he does best.

Yet he'll return to Texas four decades after playing quarterback for the USFL's San Antonio Gunslingers in 1984-85.

There had been hints that Neuheisel was looking to get back into coaching in some manner, with his name floated for the Washington State vacancy.

While its unclear if any actual discussion took place for a job that went to Kirby Moore, the suggestion was made that Neuheisel would bring his son, Jerry, the UCLA offensive coordinator at the end of the season, with him and groom him to take over the Cougars some day.

Over the past 14 years, Neuheisel had coached only the Arizona Hotshots in 2018, leading the Alliance of American Football team to a 5-3 record before the league folded halfway through its inaugural season.

Prior to that, he coached at UCLA, his alma mater, for four seasons through 2011, and was fired after the Bruins finished with losing records three times.

After beginning his career at Colorado, Neuheisel's greatest coaching success came with the Huskies, when he replaced a fired Jim Lambright and led the the UW to four consecutive bowl games in as many seasons.

In his second year in Montlake, he coached the Huskies to an 11-1 record and a No. 3 ranking in the final Associated Press football poll, enjoying a season capped off by a 34-24 victory over Purdue and Drew Brees in the 2001 Rose Bowl.

Neuheisel was fired two years later by the school for his admitted involvement in a betting pool that involved UW donors. He later contested his ouster in court with a lawsuit and won.

After the coach's abrupt departure, Husky football sank to its lowest point in program annals with a 1-10 season in 2004 with Keith Gilbertson as coach and an 0-12 campaign in 2008 with Tyrone Willingham in charge.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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